Pandemonium Con 1 –Welcoming Party – Jenga

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We were lucky enough to attend the Welcoming Party on Saturday morning, to kick off Pandemonium Con.

This had been advertised as a relaxed party in which the Shadowhunters cast and fans would play games, and it all kicked off with a not in any way relaxing game of Jenga…

Host: “So we’re gonna play Jenga, with a twist…”

Matt complains that “Jenga takes an enormous amount of time. We might as well be playing Settlers of Catan!”

Matt is also unhappy that it’s them, playing a game of Jenga on stage, rather than there being multiple games happening at once, that everyone could play and join in with, however it is quickly revealed that fan participation isn’t just encouraged, but in fact unavoidable.

Dom: “Ooooh, I see what’s going on here!”

All Jenga blocks have stickers with initials on them, and the game rules are that you remove the block of the person you want to go next, and therefore the person that’s most likely going to lose the game.

Host: “So the way it works, imagine that I want Dom to loose…” Dom looks offended.

Matt: “So if all the fan pieces are gone, do the fans loose?”

Host: “Well, the pieces are in rows, so there’s three of each, in each layer, so that’s not really going to happen, is it?”

Matt: “I don’t know! You don’t know how good we are!”

Dom choses a ‘Matt’ piece.

Matt: “Am I getting targeted? Well, this one is mine! So I’m winning!”

Matt puts the piece with his name on it on the table in front of him and instantly gets heckled by the audience.

Audience: “Aren’t you going to put it on top??”

Matt: “Oh, is that how we’re doing it? Alright…”

Will goes next and also takes a Matt piece.

Host: “Well, hopefully the next person won’t chose you again.”

Matt: “But it doesn’t matter, because ultimately the tower will still be full of names, because the person whose pieces you’ve taken are just on top of the tower, so no one is losing…”

Host and Matt argue and Matt eventually gives up, trying to explain what he means and goes “oh alright, whatever”

Will freaks everyone out, by shaking the tower, but removes the Matt piece, then tries to put it on top

Will: “This bit… I’ve had a lot of coffee, so this is the hard bit!”

Matt’s turn.

Matt: “Ok, I’m gonna get rid one of these fan ones. Does that mean a fan comes up next, yeah? Good! How does it work? Can I use two hands? Can I just do whatever I want?”

Matt is clearly distressed by the lack of rules.

Host: “You can use as many hands as you want!”

Matt manages to remove the fan piece. Fan comes up on stage.

Host: “Who is you want to lose?”

Dom: “No pressure! You didn’t think it all the way through when you volunteered, did you?”

They realise they are playing the game wrong.

Matt: “We were just going down the line…”

Fan removes Matt’s piece, so Matt has to go again, now that everyone has understood the rules.

Matt: “Okay, I’m just gonna go twice now!” (chooses his own piece)

Host: “But if you push your piece out, you have to go again. Why do you want to do that?”

Matt: “If I get all my pieces on top, then I don’t have to go again later!”

Host: “I kind of want him to lose now”

Dom: “Yeah, I know”

Matt removes Dom’s piece, so Dom has to go next. He starts. The tower wobbles. Everyone yells and screams.

Dom: “I got this, okay?”

Isaiah: “Noooooo… Nooooooo…”

Audience: “Pressure! Pressure”

Dom get his piece out. It’s a fan.

Fan comes on stage.

Dom: “Round of applause for her!”

Host: “Choose who you want to loose. And yes, you can pick a fan if you want if you don’t want them to lose. You’re really nice. I still kind of want Dom to loose”

Dom: “With those skills? Right..”

Fan removes a piece. It’s Dom’s, so he has to go again.

Matt starts straightening the tower, after it wobbles from floor vibrations, when the fan leaves the stage.

Dom: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING??”

Matt: “I’m making it more even!”

Isaiah: “Slooooooooowly… sloooooowly..”

Dom removes a piece. It’s Matt’s, so Matt goes to look at the tower, clearly aiming for another Dom piece.

Isaiah: “It’s not even personal anymore at this point..”

Matt: “Now it’s just about survival! It’s not about targeting any individual…”

Dom: “But these ones all have my name on them. And then I have to go again! How do you not understand the game??”

Matt takes Dom’s piece out. Dom goes again. Touches a piece, then moves as if to chose a different one

Matt: “No! You can’t change your answer! You have to remove that piece!”

Lots of suspense. Dom nudges and pushes but the tower wobbles.

Matt: “No, no no no. Go to the other side! Do from over there!”

Dom stops and turns on Matt

Dom: “Listen MATE..”

Dom launches himself at Matt and pulls Matt’s hood over his head. Lots of laughter.

 

Dom goes back to the tower, glances up at Isaiah, who is staring with a worried look on his face.

Dom: “That face isn’t helping, Isaiah!”

Dom turns back to tower, takes a deep breath.

Dom: “I’m shaking…”

Matt: “Alright baby! Come on! You can do it!”

Dom casually whips out his Jenga piece. It goes flying across the stage. When Dom finds it again, it turns out to be another fan.

Fan comes up, then turns to audience, asking: “Who should I pick?”

Dom: “No no. No audience conferring!”

Fan: “What’s the aim of the game?” (laughter)

Matt: “Remove that piece there very delicately. Wobble it around a bit..”

Dom: “Don’t listen to Matt!”

Matt: “Yeah, I don’t want to put you off. Get on that side.”

Fan: “No but… seriously, what’s the aim of the game?”

Host: “Well, Isaiah’s not done anything, so maybe you should pick him? Or a fan?”

Fan: “I don’t want us to loose!”

Dom: “You do whatever you want, but you should pick that piece right there. I mean, you do what you like. But that one. Right there. Just that one.. you know.. what does it say on the front? Oh, ‘fan’. Fancy that.”

Matt: “Kid, you’ve got it. I believe in you!”

Matt starts humming the jaws theme tune..

Matt: “You all seen Jaws? That movie has a big old shark in it..”

Fan keeps trying to get the piece out. Lots of oohs and aahs from cast.

Matt: “She’s shaking”

Dom: “You got it! You got it!”

Matt: “No way!”

Fan gets her piece out. It’s Isaiah.

Isaiah: “That was amazing”

Matt: “Oh my. Oh my my my…”

Audience wants to know what happens to the looser of the game.

Host: “The looser has to do an imitation of one of these guys..”

(Oooooooh…)

Matt starts humming Old Lang Syne. We think he was aiming for more of the Jaws theme tune and missed, but who knows with Matt.

Isaiah gets his piece out. It’s Matt.

Isaiah: “I’m sorry.”

Matt: “Old Matt.. Alright, let’s do this thing.”

Isaiah wobbles the stage walking back to his seat. Matt backs off from the tower until Isaiah sits down. When Matt goes to lean towards the tower again, Isaiah gets back up going ‘oh, let me just’ and wobbles the stage some more, stomping around. Then he sits down.

Matt touches a piece

Matt: “Nope.” (He doesn’t want to tale that one out, as it’s difficult.

Dom: “No no no, if you’ve touched it.. you don’t get to change the rules in the middle of the game. I had to ninja my one out.”

Matt concedes and returns to the piece he previously touched. Matt whips his piece out and it goes flying across half the stage, as Dom’s did, earlier.

Matt: “Where did it go? This is now stressful!”

Will: “What I’m doing here is I’m testing the friction of the table..” chosing from the lowest tier.

Matt: “Oh, the bottom ones!”

Clearly this had not occurred to Matt. Will tries to slide one of the bottom pieces out and tower wobbles.

OOOOOOH.

Will: “Ok, ok, hold on, Turns out, it’s a load bearing brick! Maybe if I do it from this side..”

More wobbling

Matt/Dom: “Oh my god, oh my god…”

Isaiah: “No, no.. no… no..”

Will gets his piece out. It’s a fan.

Host: “Ok, who wants to loose?”

Fan comes up

Isaiah: “What is your name?”

Fan: “Hannah”

Isaiah: “Hannah? Good night, Hannah.”

(Laughter)

Hannah casually gets her piece out. Cheering. It’s another fan.

Matt: “She’s never played this game before..”

Next fan comes up.

Matt: “Your whole life comes down to this moment right now. Everything you’ve ever done.”

She touches a piece. It’s not a good piece.

Dom: “Oh gosh.. oh gosh..”

Matt: “Now she’s stuck with it. She has to do this one.”

Tower wobbles.

Dom: “Oh gosh…”

Ooooohs and aaaaaahs

Matt: “This is so much pressure…. You got it! You got it! You got it! Stay calm!”

Matt tries to help by putting his hands on the fan’s back. Somehow we didn’t feel that this was going to help in keeping her calm…

Will: “Absolute silence in the room please.”

Room goes quiet. Fan pulls on the piece, tower wobbles dramatically. Shouting from the audience.

Matt: “Oh my god. Oh my god.”

Tower falls.

Host: “Unfortunately you have to imitate someone from the cast.”

Fan refuses.

Host: “If you don’t I’ll kick you out of the convention centre.”

Matt/Dom/Will/Isaiah: “NOOOOOO”

Dom: (gesticulating wildly) “Matt’s an easy one though, just do this with your hands”

Matt looks offended.

Matt gesticulates and shouts “What? JENGA?”

(laughter)

Matt: “This is like the ultimate level of stage freight. You’re allowed to make fun of us, we really don’t mind.”

Fan: (in Matt voice) “Oh Jenga!”

Laughter and cheering

Dom: “Very good.”

Matt: “That IS what I sound like”

And that concluded the Jenga game.

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